Draft-equalizer.



J. H. JUNE-SON.

DRAFT EQUALIZER.

APPLICATION FILED 910V. 8. 1911.

] 056,74 3, Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

Z SHEETSSHBET 1.

awe/whom A PLANOGRAFN 60.. WASHINGTON D c J. H. JONESON. DRAFTEQUALIZBR. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1911.

1,056,743. 7 v Patented Mar.18,1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN HERMAN JONESON, OF BRANDON, SOUTH DAKOTA.

DRAFT-EQUALIZER.

To all whom, it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN HERMAN JONE- soN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Brandon, in the county ofMinnehaha and State of South Dakota, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Draft-Equalizers, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to draft apparatus and more particularly to draftequalizers and has for its object to provide a system of whiflie treeswhich will automatically adjust themselves to the pulling powers ofvarious horses drawing on the same.

A particular object of this invention is to arrange it so that it willbe especially suitable for six-horse teams.

Another object of this invention is to arrange it so that it can bereadily attached to a plow or the like and so that its cost tomanufacture will be comparatively low.

Other objects of this invention will become apparent as it is more fullset forth.

In the drawings which illustrate by way of example an embodiment of thisinvention, Figure 1 represents a plan view of an equalizer in normalposition. Fig. 2 represents a plan view of an equalizer in open ordistorted position. Fig. 3 is a section online 33 of Fig. 1, and Figs. 4and 5 are details of various parts of the equalizer.

Similar reference characters refer tosimilar parts throughout thedrawings.

In the construction shown in the drawings, 1 represents the main beam,which is attached in any suitable manner to the vehicle or device to bedrawn by the teams in question. A pair of primary beams 2 are secured tothe first mentioned beam 1 by means of connecting members generallydesignated C, each of which comprises a pairof essentially Z-shapedmembers 3 hav- 'ing a long and a short arm, and a fiat metal bar 3*. Theshort arms of the members 3 are welded to the bar 3 on opposite sides atopposite ends, so that the end arms are spaced from said bar and extendin opposite directions. The ends of the member C are formed with alinedopenings 4? for the re ception of suitable fastening means forconnecting the member to the draft beam and to the primary beam. Byreferring to the drawings, it will be noticed that the primary beams areconnected at their central portions by the members C, and which in turnare Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 8, 1911.

Patented Mar. 18,1913. Serial No. 659,120.

secured to the end portions of the draft beam 1. This arrangement isprovided in order to permit the primary beams to move freely whenconnected up in the manner to be described in a later part of thespecifications. Secured to the outer end portion of each of the primarybeams 2 is a connecting member 4 which is similar in all respects to themember C and which in turn pivotally holds a secondary beam 5 at a pointone-third the distance from its outer end. Fastened to the inner endportions of the primary beams 2 are pairs of connecting straps 6, whichpivotally hold an intermediate draft beam 7 thereto.

Secured to the end portions of the secondary beams 5 are the whiflietrees 8, 9 and 10, by means of straps 11, as is clearly shown in thedrawings. It will be noticed hook members are preferably of the shapeshown in the drawings, in order that the traces may be easily slipped onor off the same, yet under normal conditions will be held securelythereon.

The intermediate beam 7 wit-h a pair of U-shaped bolts 13, hold a pairof small chains 14 thereto, which in turn have rods 15 secured by one ofthe ends thereof. The other ends of the rods 15 are secured to anintermediate beam 16, which serves asaconnecting member for a series ofwhiflie trees that are arranged to hold another set of horses thereto. AY-shaped member 17 is rigidly secured to the beam 16 and has its endportion suitably fastened to a second draft beam 1, and which in turn issecured in a similar manner to a pair of secondary beams 5 as is clearlyshown in the drawings. These latter are in turn pivotally acted upon bythe whiflie trees 8, 9 and 10 and the links or straps 11, and theZ-shaped members 3 serve for the purpose of holding the other members ina similar manner to that described for the draft appliance in the backportion of this device, the primes being added to the figures in orderto make action more readily understood.

The general action of the device is as follows :Should one horse pullmore strongly on its whiflie tree, for instance on 8, he will cause thesecondary beam 5 to move outwardly with it, which in turn will rotate onits connecting member, and pull the strap at the other end backwardlyand incidentally cause the whifile tree 9 to move with it. This actionwill cause the horse attached to the second or middle Whittle tree 9tonull more strongly thereon. A similar action will take place if thehorse attached to whifiie tree 10 should pull harder on his tree, sothat the horse on the central tree will pull according to the strainrequired of him. Should the central horse pull his Whittle treeoutwardly, as he would in case he got ahead of his normal positionwithin the traces, he will pull backwardly on the inner end portions ofthe secondary beams 5 and thereby place more strain on the outer horses,who will then relieve him. The same action takes place on the draftappliance in the front portion of the device in question, so that afurther description of this action is not deemed necessary.

,The provision of the central or intermediate beams 7 and 16, enablesthe various sets of whilile trees to take the strain put upon themequally, and as follows: Should the first team or set of horses withinthe front series of whitfie trees pull more strongly than those in theback beam, they will cause the beam 7 to move outwardly with them, whichacting upon the primary set of beams 2 will pull their outer endsbackwardly and in turn pull all the Whittle trees in this portion of theappliance,'backwardly and thereby make the horses within them pull morestrongly on their traces. This action will bring the strain equally onall the beams, and the arrangement of the whiflle trees within eachportion of the appliance will cause each horse to put a proportionatestrain on his Whittle tree.

It is of course understood that the manner of attaching the horses tothe Whittle traces and the draft beams to the Vehicle or device to bedrawn, can be done in any well known manner as that portion of thedevice is not considered to be a part of this invention.

Obviously while there is shown but one form of this invention in thedrawings, it is not desired to limit this application for patent to thatparticular form, or in any other way otherwise than necessitated by theprior art, as many modifications in the construction thereof, may bemade without departing from the principles thereof, or coming within thescope of the appended claim.

The parts 18 are neck yokes and are provided with joining links 19 andrings 20. The last mentioned rings are arranged so that they can beconnected to the collars of the team of horses following, and connectedto the whitlietrees 8, 9 and 10.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed is A draftequalizer comprising a draft bar, a pair of primary beams pivotallysecured at their intermediate portions to said draft bar, a pair ofsecondary beams pivotally secured near their intermediate portions tothe outer ends of the primary beams, a pair of whittletrees secured attheir intermediate portions to the outer ends of the secondary beams,another whitlietree secured at its intermediate portion to the opposingends of the secondarybeams, an intermediate draft beam connected at itsintermediate portion to the opposed ends of the primary beams, forwardlyextending rods removably connected to the opposite ends of theintermediate draft beam, another draft beam secured at its ends to saidforwardly extending rods, forwardly extending whitlletrees connected tothe last mentioned draft beam, and rearwardly extending yokes pivotallyconnected at their intermediate portions to the ends of the lastmentioned draft beam, said yokes being connected to each other at theiropposed ends, and rings connected to said yokes, as and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

JOHN HERMAN J ONESON.

Witnesses:

JOHN T. MEDIN, Z. O. ALLEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

